1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for presenting media programs to subscribing viewers, and in particular to a system and method for sharing viewer preferences among viewers.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention relates to the provision of television content and advertising. Television programs are distributed to viewers by a variety of broadcasting methods. These methods include traditional analog broadcast television (National Television Systems Committee or xe2x80x9cNTSCxe2x80x9d standard), the upcoming digital broadcast television (Advanced Television Systems Committee or xe2x80x9cATSCxe2x80x9d standard), cable television (both analog and digital), satellite broadcasting (both analog and digital), as well as other methods. These methods allow channels of television content to be multiplexed and transmitted over a common transmission medium.
Channel numbers are typically used to identify the stream of television content offered by a content provider. Program guide information is typically transmitted along with the television content, and typically also includes schedule information for display on users""televisions. The schedule information informs users what television programs are currently on, and what television programs will be shown in the near future.
It would be desirable in a television broadcast system to have receiving devices maintain viewer preference profiles by tracking the viewing history of users. It would also be desirable to have receiving devices communicate with each other and exchange viewer preference profiles. It would also be desirable to have groups of receiving devices communicating and exchanging group viewer preferences. In current television broadcast systems, users cannot conveniently share their viewing experience with their friends, relatives, or other individuals with similar interests. In current television broadcast systems there is also no convenient way for a user to affect the program guide content, advertising or conditional channel content of another user.
The present invention is a method and apparatus for sharing viewer preferences. The apparatus includes a transmission station and a plurality of receiver stations. The transmission station creates program guide data and advertising data that is in an xe2x80x9cobjectxe2x80x9d format. The transmission station combines the program guide and advertising objects with digital audio and video television signals, and transmits an output stream to the plurality of receiver stations. Each of the plurality of receiver stations receives the transmitted output stream and identifies the electronic program guide objects and advertising objects within the output stream. Each of the plurality of receiver stations stores the identified electronic program guide and advertising objects.
In the present invention, each of the plurality of receiver stations maintains viewing preference profiles, which comprise viewing preference information, by tracking the viewing history of each user. Receiver stations communicate with each other and exchange viewing preference information. Receiver stations store the received viewing preference information from another user, and use the received viewing preference information to display user specific program guide content, advertising, and conditional channel content.
Also in the present invention, receiver stations communicate viewing preference information to one or more servers, which combine the received viewing preference information into group viewing preference information. A server in turn communicates the group viewing preference information back to the receiver stations. Receiver stations receive and store the group viewing preference information, and use the received group viewing preference information to display group specific program guide content, advertising, and conditional channel content.
In summary, the present invention discloses a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for sharing viewer preference information between a first user and a second user. The method comprises the steps of storing first user viewer preference information characterizing media programs selected by the first user in a memory of a first user device, and transmitting at least a portion of the first viewer preference information to a second user for storage in a memory of a second user device. The article of manufacture comprises a data storage device tangibly embodying instructions to perform these method steps.
The apparatus comprises a first user device which includes at least one receiver for receiving media programs and second user viewer preferences, a processor, a memory for storing viewer preference information characterizing the media programs selected by the first user, and a transmitter, for transmitting viewer preferences information to a second user device.